Apparatus for making castings.



ITED ,y sTATEs PATENT oFFICE.

DAVID MAXWELL, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE LIQUID FORGEDS'IEEL CCMPANY, or CLEVELAND, oHIo, A CORPORATION APPARATUS RoR MAKINGCASTINGS.

Specification of Letters Patent. n

OF OHIO.

. I Patented May 20, 1913.

Original application filed JanuaryB, 1911, Serial No. 601,742. Dividedand this application led March 9,

1911, Serial No; 613,391. Renewed October 4, 1912. Serial No. 723,999. 1

l o all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DAVID` MAXWELL, acitizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county ofWayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus` for Making Castings, of which the followingis a. specication.

This invention relates to the art of casting, and while applicable tothe making of castings in general, is particularly designed for use'inmaking ingots, and has for its object to prevent piping and segregation`and to enable the stripping of a casting upon one and the sameapparatus.

With these and other objects in view, the present invention consists inthe combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter morefully described, shown in the accompanying drawings and particularlypointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes inthe form, proportion, size ,and minor details may be made within thescope of the claims, without departing from the spirit of the presentinvention.`

In the drawings,-Figure 1 is a vertical central longitudinal sectionalview of one form of apparatus for practising the'invention. F ig'. 2 isa similar view of another form of apparatus for applying the impacts inadifferentv manner from that of Fig. 1.

' ,Fig 3 is a reduced plan view, partly in section, showing the mannerof guiding the hydraulic or adjustable piston shown inl F ig. y1. v

Referring at first to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings, l designatesany su1t able base or bed from which rises a cylinder.. 2 having.an opentop through which works'a piston 3 suitably packed, as at 4.

Water is admitted into the bottom portion of the cylinder 2 through asuitable port 5 formed through the bed or base 1 or located at any othersuitable point as may be desired. The bottom of the piston 3 is pro-yvided with Aa central dependingboss 6 designed to strike the basey orbed1 so as to ort the bottom of the piston slightly the bed or bottom 1 toprovide a space to receive the water initially introduced into .thecylinder. It will of course be understood lthat the exhaust from -thecylinder passes out through the port 5. The piston 3 is hollow orprovided with a central longitudinal bore 6 opening through the top ofthe piston. Working in the bore of the piston is a plunger including astem .or shank 7 of `somewhat less diameter than that of the bore of thepiston.- This shank is provided at its lower end with a piston head 8suitably packed and working in ,the cylinder formed by the hollow piston3.' At the upper end of the stem 7 there is a striking head 9 designedto applyimpacts to the casting as will be hereinafter explained. The topof the cylinder 3 is provided with a suitable gland l0 through which thepiston shank or stem 7 works. For the support of an ingot abovethestriking head 9 there is provided a table or platform 11 supportedorloosely connected to the table or platform 11 by means of eyes'17, eachhook being designed to be engaged with a suitable ear or lug`18 ascommonly provided upon ingot molds.' In order to insure a snugengagement betweenthe hook and adjacent lug or ear a wedge 19 is drivenin between the hook and ear. By the means just described, a mold may bevery conveniently and rigidly held against'the casting plate so as toavoid displacement by the blows imparted by the striking head 9 of thereciprocating plunger 7. In the top of the casting/plate 14 is a centraldepression or seat 20 of suitable shape vcorresponding' to the crosssectional shape of the lowerendof the casting. A downwardly taperedopening 22 extends through thelcalsting plate from the seat or socket`20, with its lower yopen end registering with an opening 23 extendingthrough the table or platform l1' in alinement with the striking head ofthe reciprocating plunger. Workinginthe openings 22 and 23.

and conforming to the shape thereof is an impacting and stripping head24:, the low r lend '.of which is in the path of the striking For theautomatic control of the percussive piston there is provided a valvechest 27 carried by the cylinder 3, there being upper and lower ports 28and 29 communicating between the valve chest 27 and the bore of thecylinder 3. The valve in the chest 27 is controlledby suitable tappetmechanism including a rocker arm 30 and upper vand lower reciprocatingtappet elements 31 and 32 arranged to coperate with the striking hea-d 9and the rocker arm 30. The lower tappet member is mounted in a suitableguide'33 carried by the top of the adjustable cylinder 3, while theupper tappet member works in a guide 34 carried bythe table or platform11. The striking head 9 of thepercussive piston is provided with upperand lower beveled portions 35 and 36 coperating with the respectivetappet elements 31 and 32 to l slide the same'back and forth and therebykthrow the rocker arm 30 to .shift the valve inthe valve chest 27.Forthe purpose of guiding the adjustable cylinder 3, the head of thecylinder, as best shown in Fig.' 3 of the'drawings, is provided in itsouter edge with notches or recesses 3', each of which receives one ofthe standards 12, whereby the cylinder 3 is guided in a vtrue Verticaldirection during its up and down movements. In practising my inventionby means of the apparatus herein shown and described, molten metal ispoured into theI mold through the open top thereof, and after a suitablequantity has collected in the bottom of thel mold, depending upon thecharacter of the metal under treatment, air or other compressible iuid`under pressure is admitted into the bottom of the cylinder 3 throughthe port 29 so as to drive the percussive piston upwardly to strike thereciprocating impacting head 24 andtherebyapply an impact directlyagainst the ingot 26.

I When the percussive piston reaches its upper limit by striking thebottom of the reciprocating head 24, the tappet 31 will have been movedoutwardly ,to its limit bythe striking Ahead 9 wiping across the ends ofthe tappet,

whereby the rocker-arm 30 will be thrown and the valve in the valvechest 27 reversed so as to admit air-.through the port 28 to force thepercussive piston downward, during which time the port 29 is an exhaustporti When the percussive piston 7 reaches its downward limit, it willactuatey the tappet member 32 to return the valve in the valve *chest 27toits original'position, whereupon air will beadmitted beneath thepiston head 8 -and the percussive piston again driven upwardly. By thismeans, a succession of 1mpacts may be very conveniently and eifec--tively applied directly to the metal in the mold. The `effect of theimpact or jars upon the. metal is such as to-cause the metal to packconvergently downward along the longitudinal axis of the casting,whereby secondary pipe is effectively prevented. In the initialimpactingoperation, the apparatus/is controlled so as to impart a vibrating Iortrembling motion to the molten metal for the purpose of maintaining themetalloids in suspension'. As the level of the molten metal graduallyrises in the mold, this trembling or vibration of the molten metal iskept up in order that the 'metalloids may always be in suspension4throughout the successive levels of the molten metal during the pouringoperation. By thus maintaining the metalloids suspended, segregationJ isefl'ectually prevented. As the level of the molten metal rises in themold it becomes necessary to increase the impact, depending upon thecharacter ofthe metal under treatment. To

effect this change in the character of the im- 'pact all that isnecessary to do is to lower the adjustable cylinder 3 by permittingvwater to escape through the port 5, whereby the-stroke of thepercussive piston will be increased and the power of the impactcorrespondingly increased. When the level of the molten metal reachesthe upper port-ion of the mold where there. is a tendency to formbridges, hanging walls and piping, the power of the impacts ismaterially increased for the purpose of breaking d'own any hangingwalls, bridges and crust which form or .tend to form at the upperportion of the casting. By thus breaking down the bridges, hanging;walls and crust, the broken portions are thrown into the molten portionand are. remelted therein, whereby bridges and piping are eiectuallyprevented and the x top of the metal is maintained in a molten conditionexcept for the annular freezing at the inner walls of the mold.

From the Iforegoing description' of the operation, it will be understoodthat the impacts are quick and relatively light during the initialpouring of the mold and, as the level of the molten metal rises, thecharacter of the impacts is varied by increasing the length lofthestroke of the percussive piston and decreasing the rate thereof, the

heaviest blows being struck during the pipey forming and bridge-formingperiods.

After pouring, and forthe purpose of preventing the molten metal' fromsplashing out 'through' the open top o-f the mold and also to retainlheat, I employ a' cover 37 which ts loosely within the open top of themold `and floats upon the molten metal. This cover preferably is in theform of a spidered casting filled with some suitable refractory orinfusible material 38 forming a facing for the lower side of the coverto come in direct contact with the molten metal. By the use of thiscover, oxidation of the upper surface of the molten metal is preventedand the metal is maintained in a molten condi,- tion for a relativelylong period.

Due to shrinkage of the metal, a cup will be formed in t-he top of thecasting containing some molten metal. This cup may be filled up bytheaddition of molten metal, the cover replaced and the impacts continueduntil the metal in the cup portion of the casting has become solidified.When the additional molten metal is poured into lthe' cup portion aviolent'eruption is produced by reason of the very hot metal minglingwith the relatively cooler met-al, whereby all the impurities inthemolten metal contained in the cup will rise to the. surface, and themolten metal -will solidify and unite to the walls of the cup and thusrender the casting homogeneous-clear to the top thereof.

After the treatment of the lcasting has beencompleted, the adjustablecylinder 3 is elevated to its limit, and yhydraulic fluid pressurev isadmitted beneath thebottom of the percussive piston to force the sameslowlyupward, whereby the solidified ingot will be stripped upwardlythrough the mold which is held down by thevhooks 16, until the top ofthe ingot can' be caught bya crane and pulled entirely out of the mold.yAs soon as an ingot has been stripped from the mold, it is of courseapparent that the latter 4can be immediately poured and the'treatment ofthe ingot proceeded with in the manner hereinbefore described. In otherwords, a single mold servesfo'r successive castings and need not beremoved from the impacting apparatus until, it has becomeyunserviceable.

Instead of applying theimpacts directly to the material in the moldwhile holdingl the mold fixed',l the mold and its contents may be liftedup and dropped so as `to apply impacts to the metal. This manner ofapplying impacts may be carried outby an apparatus vsuch as shown inFig. 2 of the l accompanying drawings wherein 39 desig nates a suitablebase upon which issupported an upright cylinder 40 containing a pistonvor plunger 41 working through the n `cast-ings while solidifying,including a reciprocating impact member, Huid actuated' head 42 designedto support a casting under treatment. Where it is an ingot that is be-'treated the usual casting block 43 is plcedupon the head or table, andthe ppen ended ingot mold 44iis placedupon the casting plate. in theusu'al manner. Impacts are 'applied rto the casting bytadmitt-ing uid ipressure into the bottom of the cylinder 40 through a suitable port 5and afterwardk exhaustingthrou'gh this port so as to `drop the cylinderandthe table or vhead carrying y the mold.. With this type of apparatus,the impacts are not applied directly to the metal in the moldindependently of the mold while the'latter is4 held fixed orfstationary,as in'." Fig. 1 of the drawing, but the mold and its contents are liftedup-and then dropped.

The cylinder 40 isl provided withports or openings 40 normally closed bythe plunger 41 so as to prevent the escape ofiuid pressure in thecylinder 40, but which operate as escape ports in the event of theplunger 4l beingele-vated above suchports, thereby tol prevent excessiveelevation of the plunger.

, It will of course be understood that a floating cover 37 is employedas hereinbefore explained in connection with Fig. 1.V The admission andexhaust of Huid pressure to the cylinder is effectedby means of a valvechest 46, the valve of which is controlled by a coni necting rod 47extendingbetwe'en, the valve in the chest and the head or table on thetop of the piston. Any suitable or preferred meansl may be employed foradjusting the rod 47 to vary the. throw oft-he valve for the purpose ofincreasing the stroke of the pist-on and for increasing the ratethereof.

In using either form of apparatus for carrying out the method, the moldmay be'I- used with its small end uppermost -or yits large end uppermostas may be desired, and the effects of the two machines on the metal inthe* mold are identical.

v This application is a division of my copendingl application Serial No.601,742, filed January 9, 1911. 'l

What is claimed is loo 1. An apparatus for applyingimpacts'tol castingswhile slodifying including a'recip rocating impact member, fluidactuated means for rcclpiocating said member, and

4meansfor automatically controlling the fluid-actuated means. .v

2. A apparatus for applyingv impacts to f castings while solidifying,including an impact member, fluid actuated means for reciprocating theimpact member,`means actuated --by a moving part of the impacting `meansfor'controlling the supply andA` dismeansfor` reciprocating vthe impactmember,

means actuated by moving art of'the impacting means for 'controlling thesupply and discharge of fluid pressure and means to vary the stroke ofthe fluid actuated means vvithoutstopping the operation of theapparatus.

4c. An apparatus for applying impacts to cast-ings vvhlle solidifying,including a reciprocating impact member, fluid actuated means forreciprocating the impact member,

means actuated by a movmg part of the imlpacting means for controllingthe supply and discharge of fluid pressure and means for varying therate of operation off the fluid actuated means Without stopping theoperation of the apparatus.

5. An apparatus for applying impacts to castings While solidifying,including a reciprocating impact member, fluid actuated means forreciprocating the impact member, means actuated by a moving part of theimpact-ing means for controlling the supply and discharge of fluidpressure and means for varying the stroke and rate of operation of the`luid actuatedmeans vvithout stopping the operation of the apparatus.

6. An apparatus for applying impactsto castings Whilel solidifying,including a support for a mold, means to apply impact-s to the contentsof the mold independent of the mold, and means actuated by a Imovingpart of the impacting means for controlling the supply and discharge offluid pressure.

7. An apparatus for applying impacts to castings While solidifying,including a support for a mold, fluid actuated means for applyingimpacts to the contents of the mold independent of the mold, and meansactuated by a moving part of the impacting means for controlling thesupply and discharge of fluid pressure. v

8. An apparatus for applying impacts to castings while solidifying,including a support for the mold, fluid actuated means for applyingimpacts to the contents of the mold independent of the mold, including apercussive piston for applying the impacts, and means actuated by amoving part of the impacting means for controlling the supply anddischarge ci fluid pressure.

9. An apparatus for applying impacts to cast-ings While solidiying,including a supfit within the mold and float upon its contents andexclude air and means for applying impacts to the casting.

10. An apparatus for applying impacts to castings While solidifyingincluding a support, a mold .having an open t-op, a cover to Y fitWithin lthe mold and float upon its contents and exclude air, and meansfor applying impacts to the bottom of the casting.

11. An apparatus for applying .impactsto castings While solidifying,including a supfor a mold, fluid actuated impact4 port U l means forapplymg impacts to the contents of the mold independent of the mold, in-

cluding a percussive piston for applying un- -cast-ings Whilesolidifying, including a suport a mold having an open top, a cover topacts, and means actuated by a' moving part of the impacting means forcontrolling the supply and discharge of Huid pressure.

12. An apparatus for applying impacts to port for a mold, fluid actuatedimpacting means for applying impacts to the contents of the moldindependent ofthe mold, including a percussive piston Jfor applyinglimpacts, and means actuated by the movement of the piston forcontrolling the supply and discharge of fluid pressure.

13. An apparat-us for applying impacts to castings While solidifying,including a mold support having an opening therethrough, an

impacting plunger Working in said opening,

and fluid-actuated impacting means including a percusslve piston 1noperative relation with the 'impacting plunger.

14. An apparat-us for applying impacts to castings While solidifying,including a mold support, an impact plunger Working through the support,means for securing a mold to the support with its open end in alinementwith the plunger, and fluid actu-y ated impact applying means includinga percussive piston in operative relation with the plunger.

15. An apparatus for applying impacts to castings While solidifying,including a mold support., fluid actuated impact. applying meansincluding a cylinder and a percussive piston, and a fluid pressurecylinder containing the cylinder of the impact applying means.

1G. An apparatus for applying impacts to the castings While solidifying,comprising a -mold support, a stationary fluid pressure cylinder belowthe support, and fluid actuating impacting means including a cylinderadjustably supported in the stationary fluid pressure cylinder, and apercussive piston Working in the adjustable cylinder.

17. An apparat-us for applying impacts to castings While solidifying,comprising a mold support, a stationary fluid pressure cylinder beneaththe support, and fluid actuated impact applying means includinganadjustable cylinder adjustably supported Within the stationarycylinder, a percussive 115 piston Working in the adjustable cylinder, al valve for controlling the supply and exhaust of the adjust-ablecylinder, and valve controlling means including tappets carried by themold support and the adjustable cylinder respectively in cooperativerelation with the percussive piston.

'pacting means lfor controlling the supplyI and discharge of fluidpressure.

19. In apparatus for makingtcastings, a

`combined impacting and stripping member, Tating means to move` saidmember for stripmeansA to reciprocate said-member forjimping.v

10 pact-ing', and other means for moving said In testimony whereof Iaffix my signature memberfor stripping. inpresence of tWo Witnesses.

20, Inapparatus for making foastings', al DAVID MAXWELL. combinedimpacting; and strippil'igmember, Witnesses:

vfluid actuated means to reciprocate said. WALTJizR S.

member for impacting, and other `lud actu- EDNA HoWAitD.

